Is the Inversion Making it Hard for You to Breathe? 3 Ways You Can Immediately Help to Lessen the Bad Utah Air Quality

January 22, 2019

This article about how you can improve Utah air quality is sponsored by the 2019 Volkswagen Jetta at Strong Volkswagen. Visit Strong Volkswagen in Salt Lake City for a variety of new & used cars, parts, service, and financing.

Likely everyone is feeling it in the Salt Lake Area again. That tickle in your throat, that subtle taste of exhaust you always seem to have in your mouth. It’s inversion season again. So what can you do to lessen the terrible Utah air quality? Here are 3 ways you can immediately impart a change to help lessen the bad air quality. Spoilers, it’s all about your car habits.

1. Carpool to Cut Down on Bad Utah Air Quality

Photo: Andrey Zharkikh – Flickr

This is one you have probably heard before. But do you do it? There are many different ways that you can get involved in carpooling in the state of Utah. You can easily organize your own carpool with coworkers who live in similar areas. If you aren’t sure where to start with organizing a carpool, UTA even provides a RideShare program. Whatever way you decide to commute, remember that driving alone in a vehicle is placing that many more vehicles on the road. And those vehicles are releasing that many more emissions. So when you feel like you can chew the air, remember that your commuting choices can really make a difference.

2. Cut Down on Your Idle Time

This one can be hard to avoid if you are driving in the city with a traffic light on each block. But if you have ever started your car up in the morning to get it warmed up, you may want to reconsider. If you’re going to park your car for more than 30 seconds, turn off the engine. When you start your engine, do not step down on the accelerator, just turn the key to start. Turn that key off when you are making stops at the drive through or at the bank. And while it’s cold in the morning before you leave for work, modern cars are designed to not need time to warm up. These are all simple solutions to make a big impact.

3. Drive Low Emission Vehicles

Do you know how your car’s emissions are affecting the inversion? Want to know how your car’s emissions stack up against other cars? Start by checking out FuelEconomy.gov to see what your car is doing to the environment. If your car is scoring medium to low on the emissions score from 1 to 10, maybe you need to consider an upgrade. Maybe you should check out the 2019 Volkswagen Jetta from Strong Volkswagen which scores an 8 out of 10 in its emissions. You’ll be contributing to getting rid of the inversion. And that makes us all just a little safer.